Oh, just a couple of quotes from the Jeff Morris interview. First let me just say, the odd "Gamers Love Bugs" article aside, I think Jeff does a pretty damn good job of being the last guy to hold the bomb. He tends to gut it out and still produce the best work he can within the limits he is given. The limits put on Civ 3, however, seem horrid:
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Ugly? Are you on about that again, Yin?" Well, unless that polish actually upgrades the graphics engine...
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Graphic tasks right now are finishing the remaining overlay tiles (like poles and mines) and polishing screens.
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Yin, you said buggy? How could you possibly know?" Well, Jeff told us:
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An open public beta was originally planned, but that window I was describing never really opened. A closed public beta wasn't an option since don't they involve a large enough 'sample' for compatibility testing and requires immense manpower to manage.
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Now a closed public beta is too small to test compatibility issues, understood. So, compatibility issues will only surface AFTER THE GAME IS RELEASED. Write that one down, folks. Sure, we'll call all the bugs user-related bugs if you want.
We can only assume, then, most testing is being done by the programmers themselves and a small, insider group. Can anyone else see the computer completely failing to beat you AT ALL? No? How about this: Can you feel your system crashing to the desktop yet?
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Now this Civ 2.5 thing always sounded lame. What is it now?" Thanks to Jeff, I have a better word for it: 'Conservative Sequel.'
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At first I wasn't a fan of a conservative sequel, though I'm a complete convert now.
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Well, I guess when you don't schedule/leave enough time for thorough testing, you're pretty much left NOT wanting to do something new, since doing something basically old is going to be hard enough.
Congrats, Firaxis. Looks like a real winner is lined up here. You think the graphics just need polish, you don't make testing a priority and you don't mind being conservative. After 10 years of Civ, you've thrown up your arms and said: "Well, the thing can't really be improved, folks. Hope your system is compatible, by the way, since you'll be paying $50+ to be part of our post-release public beta."
